Hidden Figures – their story needs to be told

Hidden Figures is a film that needs to be talked about. It celebrates women of colour mathsing and changing the world.

Set in 1961 and starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Hidden Figures is the untold story of three brilliant scientists working at NASA who turned around the Space Race and lit the world.

Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson were essentially the brains behind a milestone space operation: launching astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The three scientists all faced challenges, including sexism and racism, on the way to succeeding in their mission. Mary Jackson, for instance, had to lobby for access to a local segregated school so that she could take night classes enabling her to train as NASA’s first black female engineer.

It’s an important film and nourishes the soul, so stick it on your must-watch list now.

A delicious taste…

In this clip from Hidden Figures we see Katherine G. Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson) insisting that she needs to be included in all important Pentagon meetings. She may be a woman, she may be a civilian, but she’s the one in the know.

In this mini featurette, the show’s creators and actors talk a little bit about the power and importance of the Hidden Figures women. “I love that you get a movie where we see three women supportive of each other like that,” says Taraji P. Henson. Janelle Monáe, who plays Mary Jackson, agrees: “It’s empowering when you get a movie of women sticking together. It is truly heroic.”